Background: The aim of the present study was to analyze antibiotic susceptibility profileand genetic diversity of L. monocytogenes, isolated from chicken carcasses using RAPD-PCR. Methods: In this study, 26 isolates of Listeria monocytogenes recovered from chicken carcasses were used. Antibiotic susceptibility of these isolates were examined for eleven antimicrobial agents and RAPD-PCR with use of three different primers were applied to detect genetic diversity of the isolates. Results: Some of the isolates showed multidrug resistance to commonly used antibiotics. Totally, 26 L. monocytogenes isolates had 16 different antibiogram patterns. Isolates of A and B clusters showed 7 and 6 different pattern, respectively. 12 Isolates of cluster C showed 7 different pattern. Conclusions: Some of isolates had multidrug resistance to antibiotics. This may raise a public health hazard. RAPD-PCR showed that L. monocytogenes isolated from chicken carcasses had low genetic diversity and there was no clonalrelationship between the isolates.

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